Behind the Scenes
by Snuggly Pink Wolf Product
Summary: While Rinoa and Squall were trying to get together - and stop Ultimecia - their comrades were busy taking part in their own stories elsewhere. Here are some of them.
1. Failed as an Instructor

"Failed as an Instructor" By: Wolfemann and Pink Lemonade  
  
Warnings: R, M/F/M Sex, Voyeurism, Masturbation  
  
Pairings: Quistis/Squall, Squall/Selphie/Zell  
  
Summary: A slightly different (yet, strangely, more logical) take on why Quistis lost her teaching position..  
  
Disclaimers: Don't own 'em. Aren't gonna own 'em. Not making money off of them or saying they're ours. So, hopefully, Squaresoft (who does own 'em) isn't gonna sue us for it..  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
Zell watched incredulously as Seifer and his friends drove off in the last transport, leaving him behind with Squall, Selphie, and Quistis.  
  
"H-Hey!! Not again, man! There goes Mr. Ego...."  
  
Squall sighed heavily at Zell's loud protest, and simply said, "Might as well walk it."  
  
"Well, we don't have to be back right away," Quistis said, frowning slightly at the sudden loss of their ride. On the bright side, it did give her a few ideas.. "Why don't the three of you hang out around town for a little bit, get some rest - you've had a big day. I'll see if we can arrange for a rental or something."  
  
"Sounds good to me," Selphie cheered. "I'm up for some rest, anyway.. There's a hotel here, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Zell piped up. "It's just down the street from home. Pretty good cafe there, too."  
  
" I guess we'll go get a room, then," Squall decided, unwittingly supporting Zell and Selphie's idea of his unofficial leadership.  
  
"I'll see you three later then," Quistis nodded, starting in the general direction of the rental outfit. "Enjoy yourselves - you've earned it."  
  
"See you later, Instructor," Selphie called.  
  
Squall, without a word to anyone, set off towards the already nearby hotel.  
  
"C'mon," Zell said needlessly, starting off after Squall as Selphie fell in behind them.  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
Minutes later, once they'd checked into a room in the room in the hotel, Squall had left and gone off to gather some potions and such, and Zell had gone to make a run for lunch. The temporary solitude was enough for Selphie to begin idly musing on what now seemed surreal to her.  
  
Siren called to her in mild distress, for although she liked her fairly well she was confused at the sudden change of environment, even if it was pleasant. Selphie shivered. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like, living inside such an awful creature. It had been a dizzying sensation, both the effort drawing it took and the unfamiliar sensation of the GF settling in her soul, and if not for the fact that Squall and Zell had been nearly endlessly attacking the winged beast, she didn't know what would have become of her. As it was, a fairly powerful blow from the angered Elvoret had managed to make her fall on the grates rather forcefully, cutting up her legs and doing something quite painful to her right ankle. Thankfully, though, it was nothing a cure spell couldn't pretty much take care of.  
  
She didn't doubt that Squall and Zell were shaken up as well, even though Squall seemed determined to force back any emotion that might intrude on his typical way of life, and Zell probably dealt with stress just by forgetting it. For Selphie, neither one worked. She usually had to do something to make herself forget it and relax, the few times when something actually managed to bother her.  
  
Of course, her usual method would be fairly embarrassing to be caught using, but...  
  
Selphie sighed. The idea had taken root in her, and it was already reasoning with her better sense. /Squall will probably be awhile, and Zell probably won't be able to get his key out if he's carrying lunch for all of us./ Part of her argued, but it's contribution to the debate was washed away by a slight wave of anticipation. /It's more suspicious if I'm as jumpy as I'm going to end up if I don't calm down../  
  
The part of her that had so vehemently insisted she was insane won a small battle, though. Rather than the obvious option of removing her underwear, she slipped a hand down into them, and slowly, teasingly trailed her fingers along her slit. She gasped sharply when she hit her already protruding clit.  
  
She had just convinced herself that she was going to finish herself off before anybody got back, when there was an insistent pounding at the bottom of the door.  
  
Shocked, she drew her hand back in a split second, despite the now insisting ache in her groin. She took a few fast, deep breaths, in an attempt to not sound out of breath. "Z-Zell? That you?" She sat up swiftly, straightening her dress as well as she could.  
  
"Yeah - mind opening the door? My hands are a little full here."  
  
"OK, just a sec," Selphie called back, dashing to the nearest window and opening it, both to rid the room of the musky scent and hopefully remove the now incessant heat, though she assumed that it wasn't actually all that hot. A quick look around proved as satisfactory as it could be without more time, so ran back to the door and opened it- possibly a bit *too* quickly.  
  
Fortunately, Zell had stopped leaning against the door just a moment before.  
  
"Hope you don't mind pepperoni pizza," he said as he walked into the room, apparently not noticing anything wrong. "I figured it was probably simple enough that we'd all be okay with it."  
  
Selphie could have cried with relief, but that wasn't exactly convenient. Instead, she turned to Zell and nodded, then walked over to a small table and moved a copy of Timber Maniacs off of it.  
  
"This is probably better than setting it on one of the beds."  
  
It was just then that a disturbing yet tempting idea struck in her mind, and before she could argue with herself, she found herself saying something. "How long is Squall gonna take?"  
  
"I dunno," Zell shrugged. "Said he was going to hit the shop near the train station, then head out to the junk shop. Could be hours if the guy running that place talks him into letting him take a look at his gunblade," the short fighter said with a quick laugh. Something seemed just a little out of place - he wasn't sure what, but....  
  
Then it clicked. He hadn't picked up on the slight smell at first because of the pizza in front of his face. But now he was catching the fading odor, and putting it together with a couple other things he'd noticed - the bed being mussed up wasn't too strange, but her dress was more wrinkled than it had been, and the window hadn't been open before. The clincher was one thing he was just noticing now - her fingers were a little damp. He tried to control the bolt impulse that hit him first, and keep calm, with mixed success.  
  
"Uhm - Selphie? Did I." /Come up with something to say that doesn't make a complete ass out of yourself, Dincht../ "Did I come in at a bad time?"  
  
"Maybe, maybe not.."  
  
The expression in Zell's eyes was strangely reminiscent of a deer caught in somebody's headlights, as his mouth worked for several seconds without anything coming out of it.  
  
"Uh - what'd make the difference?"  
  
Selphie sobered a bit at that.  
  
"Zell- calm down."  
  
"Sorry," he said quickly. "Just uhm.... Kinda surprised me there."  
  
"You don't need to apologize," Selphie replied. "My fault... I'll explain, if you like."  
  
"Uhm." Zell took a couple of deep breaths - for him, at least - and tried to calm down. "Y-you don't have to if you don't want."  
  
"Not quite a long story, but you might as well sit down," Selphie did as she'd suggested, and sat down on her own bed.  
  
Zell did as she suggested, picking the bed in the middle and reaching over to grab the pizza.  
  
"We might as well eat while we talk," he said, trying to get back to normal as he set it down and opened the box.  
  
Selphie nodded and grabbed a slice as well, but didn't bite into it for a moment.  
  
"A lot's happened today," she stated the overly obvious.  
  
"Well duh," Zell agreed, chuckling slightly. "Between getting shot at on the way up and running from that thing on the way down, that's not exactly a normal day's work until now."  
  
"And that's sort of the thing," Selphie said. "I kinda tensed up out there, and."  
  
"Stress relief," Zell offered helpfully, after covering for a quiet moment with a bite of pizza.  
  
"That's pretty much it," Selphie nodded slowly.  
  
"I guess shouldn't really be that surprised," he said with a slight shrug. "Just uhm - like I said, wasn't really what I was expecting. Sorta blindsided me."  
  
"I wouldnt've either," Selphie agreed with a slight laugh, finishing off her pizza.  
  
Zell covered for not really knowing how to answer that by finishing his own slice, and hoping she didn't ask why *he'd* responded the way he had.  
  
"Don't take this the wrong way, or anything," Selphie began carefully. "But you looked almost.scared or something."  
  
"Scared? Me? No," he said, trying to figure out some way to cover it without lying about it. "Just...surprised."  
  
"Like I said, I don't blame you," Selphie nodded. "But now that that's cleared up.."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Selphie hesitated a moment, sensing something was still amiss, but the little demon that had caused the problem in the first place put the words in her mouth.  
  
"I still need to relax, and I could use some help."  
  
Zell's reaction was much calmer this time, though he still tensed slightly as his brain tried to handle the conflicting thoughts running through it.  
  
"Uhm - maybe we should wait till Squall gets back," he settled on eventually, not really sure why that idea made him much more comfortable with the situation. "After all - he's had a big day too," he finished, his usual cockiness showing up slightly as he winked.  
  
Selphie's eyes widened for a moment, but she settled on words quickly.  
  
"We up for talking him into it," she asked with a slight smirk.  
  
Once the challenge was raised, Zell had to admit that it was more than slightly interesting.  
  
"Depends on how you plan on doing that," he smirked back.  
  
At that moment, as if cued, they heard a key clicking in the door. Seconds later, it opened, and behind it was, as expected, Squall, laden with what looked like more than enough to last five of him a month.  
  
Selphie sprung into action quickly, though her greeting was no different than usual.  
  
"Hi, Squall!"  
  
"Hey Squall," Zell chuckled, turning to look at him. "Why don't you set that down and sit for a bit? It's not like we're about to go into the field for a year or something."  
  
Squall shrugged, apparently not caring.  
  
"Won't have to go into town later, then," he still set the parcels down, though, then sat on his bed.  
  
"Zell got pizza," Selphie informed Squall. "It might not be hot anymore, but it shouldn't be cold or anything."  
  
"Not hungry right now.."  
  
"You okay, man," Zell asked, looking at Squall with a trace of concern. He knew that Squall was an iceberg, but it sounded like he was sick or something now.  
  
"Just tired."  
  
"Ah, c'mon," Zell grinned. "Little workout like that? That's just a warmup!"  
  
".Whatever."  
  
"Neither one of us bites, you know," Selphie informed Squall with a small giggle. "You can talk if you want."  
  
"Maybe he's just got better ideas for how to use his time than talking," Zell suggested.  
  
Squall closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "What's going on?"  
  
"What makes you ask," Selphie asked, acting as if she didn't know what he meant.  
  
Squall frowned.  
  
"Forget it.. I'm going to get some rest."  
  
"Oh, in that case," Selphie bent her head, and, unable to keep a small, amused smile off of her face before she whispered: "Night-night." Squall opened his eyes, only just in time to see Selphie capture his lips gently, but with an insistent pressure at the same time. Worse, or so he thought at the time, he found himself paralyzed, unable to protest. /Do I want to in the first place? Wait, what am I thinking? Of course I do./ He blanked out, though, when what could actually have been called friendly intensified, and, rather than not being able to protest, he found himself obliging, nearly reaching up and grabbing her- which actually wouldn't have bothered her. much anyway. . Zell watched quietly, apparently trying to keep from interfering in Selphie's attempt to get through to Squall - which she seemed to be doing remarkably well.  
  
Honestly, a part of him was trying to build up to being able to take part in this - but he was finding that easier and easier as he watched them.  
  
A few moments after that, Selphie drew back and flashed Squall a bright smile.  
  
"Can you guess now?"  
  
Confusion flashed briefly - maybe for a split second at longest- on Squall's face.  
  
"What's all this about?"  
  
"You're all right," Selphie asked, causing Squall to frown again.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Selphie looked at him as if sizing him up.  
  
"No, you're not."  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"You can't be," Selphie stated bluntly. "Squall - two hours ago none of us knew if we were gonna live to see the next day."  
  
"Pretty good odds we wouldn't, actually," Zell admitted, finally piping up.  
  
"We're fine now," Squall reminded them.  
  
"You were worse off than any one of us," Selphie sighed. "We barely all made it out alive, especially you, and it didn't even make you think? You're just going back to acting like nothing bad's ever happened?"  
  
"The only thing about that that matters is whether we passed the test."  
  
"Guess they're right about you being an iceberg," Zell half-grumbled. He didn't like listening to things like that, but it sure as hell seemed right this time.  
  
"Squall," Selphie had grown slightly exasperated herself. "Wasn't there ever. something, anything that affected you? Someone who you cared about?"  
  
Squall's eyes widened, and he sat up, stiffly. Selphie winced, realizing she must have hit a sore spot.  
  
"Squall."  
  
"Don't, Selphie."  
  
"W-What?"  
  
"Don't try and apologize."  
  
"Squall," Zell interrupted, "c'mon man - she wasn't trying to cause trouble."  
  
"That's not it, Zell," Squall clarified, avoiding looking at either of them.  
  
"Then what is it," Selphie asked, not as pointedly as her previous queries were.  
  
"It's- no, don't worry about it," Squall looked almost embarrassed.  
  
"C'mon, Squall - whatever it is, it's not leaving this room. After all - we're all partners, right?"  
  
"It's nothing." /Or it shouldn't be./ "Really."  
  
"It is, though," Selphie spoke softly. "Otherwise you wouldn't have trouble talking about it, right?"  
  
"Don't really want to talk about it," Squall concluded helplessly.  
  
"It's OK, Squall," Selphie assured.  
  
"Sorry if that. thing back there creeped you out, anyway," Selphie changed the topic casually, and Squall was thankful that neither Selphie or Zell seemed determined to pry, even if what they were apparently now talking about was awkward as well.  
  
"I've seen worse things."  
  
Squall's expression was fairly unreadable, and, that noticed, Selphie added something.  
  
"Just," she hesitated, then recalled Zell's earlier wording. "Stress relief. Nothing else.."  
  
Squall seemed to contemplate the situation for a minute, and then apparently made a decision.  
  
"None of this leaves this room, either."  
  
"Not a chance," Zell agreed.  
  
"Of course," Selphie nodded. "Guess we should close this, then." She went to the windowed door by the balcony she'd opened earlier and shut it.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Definitely," Zell nodded. "Probably want to pull the drapes too."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Selphie agreed quickly, no more willing to be caught than Zell or Squall, even if it wasn't exactly obvious. She untied the curtains on each side of the door, surprised at how dark it became when the sun was blocked out.  
  
"So," Zell said, just a little nervously. "Where do we start?"  
  
"Square one, last time I checked," Selphie joked, though not meanly.  
  
Selphie turned to Squall, then, who seemed apathetic towards the situation, as usual.  
  
"Lighten up," she told him cheerfully. "Or else I'll have to make you."  
  
Squall replied, but it was with an inarticulate mutter- not exactly something of discomfort, more a placeholder for words he couldn't quite find.  
  
Selphie flopped down beside him quite carelessly, and quite soon found herself in a repeat of her past maneuver, though more successfully if one was to judge visually. Far more successfully, to be accurate. Squall had apparently decided his past restraint was fairly pointless, and while there was still some awkwardness on most scales, by the terms one would class Squall there most definitely was not. However, that might have changed vastly had any one of them known exactly what was going on in the next room..  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
Quistis bit her lower lip as she watched the threesome in the next room through the small surveillance computer she'd gotten from the ship before Squall had gotten back. It had taken three different cameras to get a decent view - the shades had blocked the one she'd set on the balcony and the one she'd hidden on Squall's jacket when she met him on the way back from the shop was buried under Selphie's clothes, but the third was on one of the packages he'd bought, and that one had a perfect shot.  
  
/"It's worth the trouble,"/ she thought to herself, stifling a groan as she rubbed her clit hard, her eyes focused on Squall as he took Selphie just roughly. She made a couple more adjustments to the picture, so it was focused on the entire reason she'd gone to that trouble, and tried to lose herself in the fantasy.  
  
Unfortunately, she was successful enough that she didn't notice as the door quietly slid open a few minutes later, and a slender figure looked in over her shoulder, his face registering every bit of the shock he felt when he saw her spying on the trio in the next room. Nida started to run down the stairs as the door closed behind him. This was definitely something the faculty had to find out about..  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
The next day, Quistis was in Cid's office, being informed of the results of the test - nothing that surprised her overly much. She was going to have to wait until after the formal announcement to congratulate Squall on taking the number one spot, but that wouldn't be too much of a problem.  
  
"Is there anything else, Sir?"  
  
Cid hesitated a moment, then a regretful look crossed his face.  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid there is."  
  
"It's about Seifer, isn't it," she sighed, more than slightly frustrated. She was surprised, though, to notice Nida and one of the faculty members enter the room.  
  
"You see, Miss Trepe," Cid began. "Nida happened to stop by the hotel yesterday to inform you that the car you requested had been returned, and.."  
  
/"Shit,"/ she thought, her stomach dropping out as she glanced over at the new SeeD. /"Okay, keep cool - it shouldn't be too big a violation if he saw anything, might still be able to cover for it."/  
  
"Yes, sir?"  
  
"He seems to believe that what he saw was.. An invasion of sorts on the privacy of three students of yours."  
  
/"Wonderful."/  
  
"What does he believe he saw," she asked, trying to figure out how much she'd have to explain. If it was just that she had them on the screen, that could be explained as a mistake. If he had details, though....  
  
"They," Nida explained, using the single word to indicate Squall, Zell, and Selphie, "seemed to be," he trailed off and reddened to a dark shade. "Well, I'm sure you can guess what I mean.. And Instructor Trepe was. enjoying the view." The summary was brief and sheepish, but more than enough to pose a problem. The only way to defend herself would be to try and completely discredit him.  
  
And that she wasn't willing to do, to cover up for pulling a stunt like that and getting caught.  
  
"Sir," she said calmly, "may I have a word in private?"  
  
Cid turned to Nida.  
  
"Thank you, Nida, but I think we should respect Quistis' wishes."  
  
"V-Very well, Sir," Nida stumbled on the words, but simply left, the faculty member at his heel.  
  
Quistis waited until the two were out of the room before speaking again.  
  
"Whatever the measures taken, I don't want the three of them to find out the real reason," she said quietly, not even bothering to deny what Nida had said.  
  
"Very well," Cid nodded gravely. "I do believe it is in their best interest as it is. However, Quistis."  
  
"Yes sir?" She knew she was probably about to be thrown out, but she was still strangely relieved, knowing that they wouldn't find out why. He was right - it was in their best interests not to find out. /"Besides - a mistake like this is *not* something I want anybody else hearing about."/  
  
".I must ask you one thing. What were your reasons?"  
  
/"That's a surprise,"/ she thought. Now, if only she had an answer.  
  
"Sir," she started, "for the past year I've been trying to avoid having Cadet Le - Squall," she corrected herself, "find out that I'm interested in him. The regs about instructors getting involved with cadets, after all." She paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain the rest of it, and decided there really wasn't any way to.  
  
"I saw a chance to get a look at him, and I took it," she finished, her tone more than slightly disgusted with herself. "Honestly, I didn't really expect things to develop that way, but I took advantage of it when they did."  
  
"I see," Cid sighed. "I wish there were some other way, I really do," there was a long pause. "But I'm afraid you shall have to be stripped of your title as an Instructor."  
  
The expression that crossed her face showed just how surprised she was at that.  
  
"That's all," she asked, before she could stop herself.  
  
"Yes, it is," Cid replied, not too surprised at her shock. "I must ask you, however, not to say a word to anyone as to why you're no longer an Instructor. Nida has been spoken with, and he shan't, either."  
  
"I have no problems with that," she said, nodding as she recovered some of her composure. "What should I say if anybody asks, besides the obvious?"  
  
".This document," he held out an envelope, "should contain all you need to know."  
  
She took the envelope silently, and opened it, skimming over the document silently.  
  
"Thank you, sir," she said, her voice catching slightly. /"Nobody to blame but yourself, Trepe,"/ she admonished herself. "And I'm sorry I put you in this position."  
  
"Don't worry about it, Quistis," Cid replied. "In many ways I don't blame you, but. no, forget it. You are dismissed."  
  
Quistis saluted, and turned to leave the office, heading back to her room before she looked at the paper a little more carefully. She sighed and sat it off to the side, before starting to change for the night's party.  
  
"Failed as an instructor," she said to herself, shaking her head. "They got that right...." 


	2. Train Ride to Hell

Train Ride to Hell By: Wolfemann and Pink Lemonade  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
Commandant Martine finished giving his briefing to the arrivals from Balamb outside Galbadia Garden. He handed an envelope to their apparent leader, and waited as the young man read them.  
  
"Details of the mission are enclosed in these official orders. Any questions?"  
  
"The orders say by means of 'a sniper'," he pointed out. "We have no one with that skill.  
  
Martine nodded - he'd expected as much. "Don't worry about it. Let me introduce an elite sharpshooter from Galbadia Garden." He turned to the young man sitting off in the distance, and shouted towards him. "Kinneas! Irvine Kinneas!"  
  
Irvine stood up lazily and strolled over to the group, his shotgun hanging from his hip.  
  
"This is Irvine Kinneas," Martine explained. "He will be your sharpshooter. Leave whenever you're ready. Failure is not an option." Martine started back into the Garden, oblivious to Irvine idly pantomiming a shot at the back of his head.  
  
"Bang," Irvine observed with a slight smirk as the door closed behind his CO. The others looked at him a little uneasily, before Quistis decided to break the uneasy silence.  
  
"What's our mission," she asked Squall.  
  
"Our next mission.." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "This is no ordinary mission. It's a direct order from both Balamb and Galbadia Garden. We're to. assassinate the sorceress. We're to shoot her from afar. Kinneas will be our sharpshooter. We're to support Kinneas to our fullest. Should the sniper fail, we are to attack head on."  
  
"Thanks for the support," Irvine chuckled. "But I never miss my target."  
  
"Eliminate the sorceress," Squall shrugged. "That's our order. We're going to head to the capital of Galbadia, Deling City. There we'll meet up with General Caraway to go over the details for the plan. Let's get going."  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
Quistis, Selphie, and Rinoa watched as the three men in their unit started off towards the train station.  
  
"So," Quistis asked quietly. "What do the two of you think of Mister Kinneas?"  
  
"I-I don't know," Rinoa admitted. "He seems a bit strange.."  
  
"Aw, c'mon, you guys," Selphie protested. "He might be an okay guy."  
  
"You're right, Selphie," Quistis agreed. "But still, Rinoa's right - there's something about him that seems a little off."  
  
"I guess you're right," Selphie admitted. "There's definitely something a bit unusual, but that doesn't necessarily mean much."  
  
"Well, anyway, there's nothing we can do about it for now," Rinoa pointed out.  
  
"Right," Quistis nodded, as the three of them started towards the station on their own.  
  
"Is it just me," she asked a few moments later, "or does something seem off about the whole mission?"  
  
"Come to think of it," Rinoa began, only to be cut off.  
  
"Heeey, you're right," Selphie agreed, wrinkling her nose.  
  
"Good, I'm not the only one," Quistis sighed. "I don't think we should say anything about it around Squall, not yet at least, but it doesn't seem right that we'd be sent to do something like this."  
  
"I don't know about that.. What if it's a trap," Rinoa asked uncertainly.  
  
"We'll have to be on the lookout for that, but the main reason I don't think we should tell Squall is that I don't think we'd make much progress with him at this point. We'll probably be better off raising the issue once we have more than gut feelings to go on."  
  
"Knowing Squall, that's probably smart," Selphie agreed.  
  
"I. guess so."  
  
"Do you know anything that would be more proof, Rinoa," Quistis asked seriously. "If you've got some reason to believe this is a trap, we should know about it."  
  
"N-No," Rinoa replied hastily. "Nothing."  
  
The veteran SeeD frowned slightly at that, but decided to let it slide for now. "Just tell us if you notice anything we didn't - discreetly, of course," she amended quickly.  
  
"All right."  
  
"C'mon, we gotta hurry," Selphie shouted. "The train leaves in ten!" With that, the three started running the rest of the way to the station, reaching it just a few moments behind Squall and the others.  
  
Selphie poked her head into the train first, to find Squall putting a ticket in the small slot by the door.  
  
"Hee! You caught on," she declared happily before slipping away to her usual spot.  
  
A polite, cheerful voice cut in over the intercom. "This train, bound for Deling City, will be departing shortly," it explained, just before the train rumbled to life and started down the tracks.  
  
"This is the only train bound for Deling City anyway," Rinoa sighed and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Hmm.," Irvine mused, only half-paying attention as he watched Selphie walk out. "Perhaps it's fate?" With that, he walked out, following Selphie into the next car.  
  
The slender brunette failed to notice him for a while, and simply leaned against the window's ledge and looked out the window.  
  
After awhile, she began to sing to herself.  
  
"Train, train," she hummed. "Take us to the future.."  
  
Irvine just leaned up next to her, listening for a few minutes.  
  
"Where it goes. nobody knows.."  
  
Eventually, he decided he had to speak up. "Catchy tune," he observed. "Make it up yourself?"  
  
Selphie started, but regained her composure quickly.  
  
"Y-Yeah."  
  
"Thought so," he chuckled. "You're not bad. Why'd you become a SeeD?"  
  
Selphie wore a pained expression for a split second after the question was asked, but her typical 'sunshine' broke out in such a rush that the saddened look seemed almost an illusion.  
  
"I dunno.. I just did, I guess."  
  
The lapse in her demeanor wasn't missed by the gunslinger, but he decided to ignore it for the time being.  
  
"Destiny," he asked idly.  
  
"Could be," Selphie shrugged. "I never really thought about it."  
  
"Never think about why you're where you are when you are," he asked. "About why you meet who you do?"  
  
"No," Selphie began. "But it is odd. I only just met Squall, Zell, and Quistis a couple weeks ago, and you and Rinoa pretty much just now. And then this.."  
  
That caught him by surprise, though he tried to hide it as well as he could. "Pretty big mission," he said, nodding to cover for the moment of surprise. "At least it's pretty short term. Of course, that does mean we'll all be heading back to our usual jobs fairly soon - not going to be working together all that long."  
  
"Usual work's no easier than this for me, at the moment," Selphie remarked. "Of course, if the mission succeeds, Timber will probably get liberated somewhere along the line."  
  
"Then it's time to head back home and wait for them to find some other job they need to pull you out of mothballs for," he said with a half-chuckle. "Ever think about doing something else?"  
  
"Like," Selphie challenged, though not in an offended way.  
  
"Oh, going solo," he shrugged. "Maybe just finding a job that doesn't involve putting large holes in things that didn't have them before. Something that didn't involve a Garden."  
  
"I like this just fine," Selphie shrugged in return. "Sure, it can be dangerous, but."  
  
"There's nothing that isn't dangerous," he chuckled. "Even my job, despite what some of the grunts might say. But there are other things. Sometimes it'd be nice to work with the same people for more than one or two jobs, after all."  
  
Selphie looked surprised.  
  
"I-I guess I never though of it that way," she admitted. "I mean. we're a team. All of us. Squall doesn't show it, but even he knows it.."  
  
"More something I have to deal with," he shrugged. "Nobody likes having a sniper around, unless they need something to go boom far away."  
  
"I guess snipers don't have the best reputation," Selphie admitted. "But then, people never try and put themselves in a sniper's shoes, either."  
  
"Not usually," he agreed. "Not unless they're trying to stop one. Still - gets lonely once in awhile."  
  
"Aren't there even anymore snipers at Galbadia? Or is it something people don't often take up.?"  
  
"Not really - most of the people who want to get into it can't handle it, for one reason or another. Besides, sometimes the people you want to be with aren't the same as you."  
  
".Oh."  
  
"You know," he smiled, "it's nice talking to somebody who tries to understand."  
  
"It's the least I can do," she shrugged. "Besides, you'd be surprised just how much I can relate.."  
  
"Like I said," he chuckled. "Sometime you meet the right person at the right time."  
  
"Yeah, seems like it."  
  
The door to the car opened almost silently as Irvine thought about what to say next, not noticed by either of them.  
  
"Selphie... We're destined to be together," he said suddenly.  
  
At that, Selphie seemed more than startled.  
  
"Y-Yeah right," she blurted, going with her first instinct. At that point, she noticed the figure by the door and drew in a sharp breath. It was exhaled in a shaky sigh, though, when she noticed it was only Squall.  
  
"A sigh of love," he half-joked, hoping he hadn't just screwed up too badly.  
  
"N-No," she replied slowly, looking at her feet.  
  
It was then he noticed the newcomer - Squall.  
  
/"Damn,"/ he thought to himself, turning to leave. "Pardon me," he said, making his way back into the car and sitting down, trying to sort out what to do next. As he sat, he became aware of somebody watching him. Looking up, he noticed Zell half-glaring at him from across the car.  
  
/"Well, that could explain a bit about Selphie,"/ the gunslinger thought.  
  
"You have something you'd like to say," he asked, meeting Zell's eyes.  
  
".Nah," Zell shrugged after a moment, turning his head slightly. "Just thinking."  
  
"The ride shouldn't take much longer," Rinoa remarked, standing on her tiptoes and looking out the window on the door. "We're near ho- Deling."  
  
"You from around here," Irvine asked curiously - he would have thought that somebody from this area would have gone to Galbadia Garden.  
  
/"Though it would explain the way she moves - not like most SeeD's."/  
  
"Um, no. I just came here a lot with my family on vacation," Rinoa stated slightly awkwardly. "That place is pretty much a giant slum, anyway."  
  
"It has some good points," Irvine smiled. "Maybe I could show you a few you missed after this job."  
  
Rinoa was about to frown, but recalled Selphie's insistence that he might not be as bad as he seemed.  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"If you know where to look, there's plenty there that can make you forget the slums," he continued. "Of course, unless you live around here, you usually miss half of them hitting the main tourist attractions. I'm sure there'd be something there that'd catch your interest."  
  
"Maybe," she repeated. "All those political places are boring, though, and those are what people go to see.."  
  
"Trust me, I have better taste than that," he chuckled. "Even if Martine'd put me on report for a month if he caught me there."  
  
"'There?'"  
  
"Anywhere that isn't a usual tourist trap," he shrugged. "Doesn't think most of them are the places SeeD should be hanging out, even if most of them don't care."  
  
"Oh," Rinoa replied simply, at a loss for words.  
  
"Not your type of place either," he asked, ignoring the increasingly dark look he was getting from Zell, though it did confuse him a bit.  
  
"It's not that, it definitely sounds more interesting than what I've seen.."  
  
He stood up and moved over next to her, apparently looking out through the windows. "Figure you'll be busy after we finish the job?"  
  
"I don't know - depends on how things work out," she shrugged. "I might be, or I might not be."  
  
"And just what might convince you to be," he asked, letting one arm slip down between them.  
  
"Nothing's gonna 'convince' me," Rinoa began to explain. "I have to liberate Timber- the Forest Owls have to."  
  
"So you're not SeeD," he observed, his interest going slightly beyond the nights after the mission for a few minutes.  
  
"Doesn't matter," Rinoa replied quickly, in a cross between a 'mind your own business' and a pleading tone. Irvine's attitude seemed to change almost immediately.  
  
"If we're going on a job like this with a civilian, it might be good to know about it ahead of time," he pointed out.  
  
"It's nothing you need to worry about," Rinoa was more firm this time.  
  
"Look," he sighed. "I just want to know if I'm going to have to watch somebody else's back more than usual while we're on this job."  
  
"I can take care of myself," Rinoa informed him with slight disdain, turning away.  
  
"Rinoa," he said in an exasperated tone, following her towards the corner just as the door opened and Squall walked in.  
  
"Irvine Kinneas," Quistis scolded him, now that she actually had a legitimate reason to. "You're playing a major role in this mission. Now behave yourself!"  
  
"No one understands me...," he sighed. "Sharpshooters are loners by nature. We hone our instincts, pour our whole being into a single bullet. The pressure of the moment... An instant of tension... That's what... I have to face alone." A slightly haunted expression came into his eyes as he turned.  
  
"...It's not easy. So like.. Just do me a favor, and let me be! You get my drift?"  
  
Zell sprang to his feet, pounding the floor of the car with his foot as he forcibly restrained himself from tying into the young man in front of him.  
  
A voice came over the intercom a moment later. "Err, there was no damage to the train from that, err, minor vibration. I, uh... repeat.. Err, there was no damage to the train from that, err, minor vibration.."  
  
"What's going on," Selphie popped in seconds after the speaker clicked off. "What was that?"  
  
"Personality conflict," Irvine muttered, turning on his heel and stalking off towards the sleeper car.  
  
"Creep couldn't take a hint from anyone," Zell muttered, dropping out of the combat stance he'd slipped into.  
  
"Zell's foot met the train floor," Rinoa clarified with a tiny laugh.  
  
"Zell," Selphie scolded, glaring at him. "Really."  
  
"Yeah, well," Zell said, putting his hand behind his head a little sheepishly. "I wasn't really planning on doing that."  
  
"Well, you did," Selphie continued. "Acting on impulse like that could getcha into trouble, you know."  
  
"Off-hand," Quistis observed. "I'd say it did. Just try to think things through a bit better in the future, Zell - we've all made mistakes like that before." With that, Zell sighed and slumped back into the corner, returning to his brooding from before..  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
Irvine flopped down on one of the bunks on the train, still muttering to himself.  
  
"Dammit - why don't they remember anything!"  
  
Not a one of them seemed to remember him. Not that he couldn't understand that - between the years passing and the fact that they'd all spent time around a number of other people, he could see the faces blending. Of course - he remembered them. Maybe there was something to those rumors he'd heard about the GF's.  
  
And now they probably wouldn't trust him as far as they could throw him. Not that he could blame them - this was *really* not his day.  
  
"Matron," he said softly, acutely aware of the role he had to play in all this. "I can't do it - not to you."  
  
He could have killed Martine for giving him this job - the bastard *knew* that "Sorceress Edea" was the woman who'd raised him. It was like some sort of twisted joke.  
  
At least the rest of them might not have to live with the outcome - wouldn't realize what they'd just done. Cid though - this had to be eating him up inside. Just like it was eating him up - killing a woman was bad enough, but killing one who was as kind and loving as Matron Edea had been..  
  
But she was the Sorceress of Galbadia now, not acting at all like the person he remembered. If he didn't take the shot - didn't kill her - then Squall and the others would have to try to do it hand-to-hand, and that *would* be a joke - a group of SeeD's, rookies at that, up against a skilled sorceress. They couldn't have been SeeD's for long - Quistis maybe, but not the rest of them. And Rinoa was a civilian, on top of it.  
  
How many lives could be forfeit if he missed?  
  
And why was he trying to find some way to make Edea's come out ahead in the balance?  
  
"A single moment of tension. What a joke.."  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
It was late at night when Selphie awoke. Really, really late. It was so dark, she couldn't see her hand two inches away from her face. With a sigh, she shifted, trying to get comfortable again. Unfortunately, she never had been able to sleep well in beds that she wasn't used to. Her eyes adjusted to the dark eventually, though, and it was then she noticed the absence of Zell, who'd been on the couch, apparently not caring where he slept, which he apparently wasn't doing anyway.  
  
With a sigh, Selphie rolled to her feet.  
  
/I'm not gonna get back to sleep anyway,/ she decided, not bothering to find her boots and creeping out of the room, barefooted. She found the short blond leaning against the wall, staring out at the passing scenery of the very early morning.  
  
"Zell," she called quietly. "Whacha doing?"  
  
He turned slightly, startled by her question. "Thinking," he shrugged. "Sorry if I woke you up on my way out."  
  
"Nope, just don't sleep well in beds I'm not used to," she replied with a shrug of her own. "What about?"  
  
"I screwed up earlier," he replied, frowning. "Big time. Then there was that trouble with Irvine.."  
  
"I didn't mean that, you know," Selphie said, recalling how quickly he'd become silent at Quistis' mention of the incident in Timber. "And Irvine. I don't know what happened, but I'm gonna guess he wouldn't quite accept that someone didn't wanna talk about something."  
  
"Yeah - that's not what got me pissed off, though," he shrugged. "Kept trying to talk Rinoa into heading out with him after this mission, wouldn't take the hint when she tried turning him down."  
  
"Is that so," Selphie mused quietly.  
  
"Yeah," Zell said, a half-growl creeping into his voice. "Should have stopped after she said she wasn't interested in the tourist traps."  
  
"With what he said to me, he shouldn't have said anything like that to her at all," Selphie half-pointed-out, not quite so matter of fact, if only because she knew that only Irvine, herself, and Squall had seen the first time.  
  
"What did he say to you," Zell asked, turning to look at her hesitantly, almost like he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.  
  
"Honestly, I don't remember too much other than that he wouldn't drop it," Selphie hesitated. "Left when he noticed Squall, though."  
  
"Hitting on you too," Zell half-asked. "That's just nuts, going after both of you - that fast too."  
  
"Quistis mentioned that she thought there was something odd about him," Selphie admitted. "But she figured we should keep quiet.. You know how Squall can be."  
  
"Yeah," he chuckled. "Way too serious for his own good, or anybody else's. So, uhm. I'm guessing you turned him down?"  
  
Selphie giggled a bit at that.  
  
"Yeah, don't worry."  
  
"Actually," he said, hesitating for a moment as he thought about it. "I don't really mind that too much - I just don't want anybody to hurt you like - like that."  
  
Selphie's expression went to a sort of deadpan for a moment, as if making the transition from a joking face to a more serious one came in stages.  
  
"Thanks, Zell. Really. But I promise I won't let that happen. Irvine might not be easy to get rid of, but he changes focus so quickly you'd hardly notice, by the look of things.. What's important is we keep an eye on Rinoa."  
  
"If he tries anything like that," Zell said, clearly perfectly serious, "he'll be finding out just how much that shotgun *won't* help him. We'll just keep it from becoming an issue."  
  
"We'll need to," Selphie agreed, equally as serious. "We need him around for this to work."  
  
"That's the main reason I didn't give him a black eye earlier," the short fighter admitted. "Man, he gets on my nerves."  
  
"I don't know what to tell you," Selphie sighed. "We all know ignoring it doesn't work- especially when you don't know which of your orders to follow."  
  
"Both," Zell shrugged. "He's not as bad as Seifer was, just hit a nerve."  
  
"For now, we can't do anything," Selphie repeated with a slight frown. "But even if we could, what would it be?" 


	3. Jail Break!

Jail Break! By: Wolfemann and Pink Lemonade  
  
~~~===~~~  
  
"This isn't good," Rinoa observed in a small voice, studying the cold, barren metal cell that she, Selphie, Quistis, and an unconscious Zell were contained in. "Where are Squall and Irvine, anyway.?"  
  
"I'd hope they've got Squall in the infirmary," Quistis said quietly, remembering the sinking, helpless sensation as Edea had hurled the spear of ice through him. "Irvine. I'm not sure; he might have gotten away in the confusion."  
  
"Right now I'm worried about Squall," Selphie declared with a frown. "Don't know what happened to Irvine, but it's not like I saw him get pierced with a giant icicle! Think Zell's all right, by the way.. Kinda looks like Squall did when he was out on the train to Timber."  
  
"So there's a chance he's in that dream world," Quistis thought out loud, frowning slightly and looking out at the guards. "Somehow, I don't think they're going to be too eager to tell us what's going on."  
  
"Right about now, doesn't seem like we want their attention at all," Selphie pointed out.  
  
"And now we're going to get it," Rinoa joked weakly, the remark losing its attempt at humor and sounding dead serious when it passed her lips.  
  
"In all the wrong ways," Quistis agreed grimly. "I just hope Zell's up in time to help if the guards give us the chance to get away."  
  
"Yeah," Selphie nodded, crinkling her nose at the smell of the air. It smelled altogether too much like blood. "Right now he's the only one of us who could really fight."  
  
"And it's not like we could leave him, either, even if we could fight our way out," Rinoa sighed.  
  
"We could," Quistis said, frowning slightly, "but we won't. Even if the Faculty would say we should, it's not going to happen. Which means we need to find some way to get all of us out of here, preferably as quickly as possible."  
  
"Those things give me the creeps," Selphie remarked conversationally.  
  
"Now's probably not the time to talk about them," Quistis said quietly, regretting bringing it up for a moment before they heard a low groan from Zell.  
  
"Ugh.. Where am I," he asked, sitting up slowly.  
  
"Welcome back, Zell," Quistis said with a sigh, figuring that he'd figure things out quickly enough. "The dream-world again, right?"  
  
"Uh huh," Zell nodded, looking around at his surroundings with a growing sense of unease. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were in one of the Galbadian prisons. And what that could mean touched a deeply buried part of him, and it didn't like it.  
  
"How's Laguna doin'," Selphie questioned brightly.  
  
"Dunno," Zell shrugged with a slight frown, thankful for the distraction. "I didn't see him. It's not like I know everything about Ward, but... well, you know Laguna and company went to that Centra place and got into a real fix, right? After that, Ward's been all alone. He's working in some sort of prison-like place, and he's bored out of his mind. All he wants is to be fighting alongside Laguna."  
  
Quistis cocked her head and looked at him. "So is this what we're experiencing?"  
  
"How the hell should I know," Zell asked a little irritably. Quistis looked at him, her surprise visible on her face, but she decided it must have been something to do with their general situation and let it slide.  
  
Selphie hadn't been paying too much attention past Zell's answer to her question, about enough to make sense of what Quistis had said, so she jumped slightly in surprise. Definately something off there, she realized, even in a situation like this. They'd fallen into a slightly uncomfortable silence, and after a moment she couldn't take it any longer. "Well," she began thoughtfully. "Since we're prisoners... Shouldn't we be trying to break out of here?!"  
  
"Yes, we probably should," Quistis agreed. "Once we have an idea of how. I wonder what happened to Squall. if they brought him here, too."  
  
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Rinoa turned her head slightly in Zell's direction. "But aren't you supposed to be Ward in the dream world?"  
  
"Just now I was," he agreed. He wanted to say something about how he'd reacted before, but he honestly wasn't entirely sure on where it came.  
  
"Does this room look familiar?"  
  
/"Of all the stupid questions -"/ Fortunately, Zell managed to *not* say that before he stopped to think about it for a minute. "Wait a sec.. I know this place! Everybody listen up! This is the prison that Ward works at! He's a janitor here! There are so many rooms just like this! It's got to be here!"  
  
"There's a prison for political prisoners in Galbadia," Rinoa trailed off, frowning. "This must be the place where Ward works. Right here, where we are! I'm sure of it!"  
  
"It's no surprise we're in jail," Quistis pointed out. "We did attack the sorceress."  
  
"We went up against the President," Rinoa said slowly, as though it had only just occured to her. "We'll all be sentenced to death."  
  
"That president isn't in charge anymore," Quistis said, thinking things through as calmly as she could with the way things were turning out. "Now that the sorceress is in charge. what's going to happen to us now?"  
  
"Things don't look so good," Selphie murmured quietly, shifting on the cold floor.  
  
/"That's putting it mildly,"/ Zell thought to himself. /"We're stuck in a prison, no idea what they're going to do to us, except that it's going to be bad.. No idea where Irvine or Squall is.. Or if Squall's even alive, for that matter. What the hell are they going to do to all of us?"/  
  
"If they were planning on executing us, I don't think they'd be taking their time about it," Quistis said, trying to keep everybody relatively calm. "And with Seifer working for them, they've probably got everything they need to know about Garden. They're probably just trying to keep us out of the way for the time being."  
  
"Seifer," Rinoa muttered to herself. "Well, there's a switch."  
  
"Sorry, Rin," Selphie apologized quietly, though she was clearly distracted.  
  
"Thinking of something, Selphie," Zell asked, cocking his head slightly.  
  
"We gotta get out of here," she replied in a murmur, though her voice didn't hold near the conviction it had earlier. "And." She trailed off and looked up, mouthing a silent 'later.'  
  
"Right," Zell agreed, wincing mentally as he imagined the conversation that could become. Definitely no reason to start it now, though. "Rinoa; you still have any of the GF's you used going up against the Sorceress? They might help us get out of here."  
  
"Yeah," Rinoa nodded slowly. "I do."  
  
"Maybe we should split them up, then; we'd have better odds if we could use some of our spells, even if we couldn't summon any of them. Who've you got?"  
  
"Carbunkle and Siren," Rinoa replied. "Selphie, you had Siren, didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah, I did," Selphie nodded.  
  
"Take her back, then," Rinoa decided. "We're better off if more of us can use magic, anyway."  
  
"Right. Relax, Rin," Selphie scuttled to Rinoa's side. "Ready?"  
  
"Mhm," she affirmed with a nod. Selphie reached out and put a hand to her forehead, calling out for the familiar GF. Siren, thankfully, liked Selphie, and both replied and came without a fight. "Done," Selphie declared cheerfully, glad to have her friend back.  
  
"Great," Zell agreed. "Now, we just -" Suddenly, he was interrupted by the scraping groan of heavy machinery.  
  
"What, what," Selphie squeaked in worried surprise. "What was that loud noise?!"  
  
Zell was about to answer when a pair of guards walked in, the lead one opening the cell and holding his nightstick menacingly.  
  
/"I don't like him at all,"/ Zell thought with a scowl, his growing sense of unease peaking as he watched the leader.  
  
"It's the sound of your friend being tortured," the second one replied nonchalantly.  
  
"What," Zell shouted, dropping into a stance almost on reflex. "What do you mean? Who?"  
  
"Shut up," the first man screeched, glaring. "Don't screw around with me! You understand who's in charge here?!"  
  
Zell's expression didn't shift, except for a twitch of his lips as a retort was stopped by the barest margin of common sense.  
  
"I'm asking you a question," he snarled, reaching out in a flash and grabbing the noticeably shorter martial artist by the collar. There was another moment's silence, and the man made a frustrated growl and struck Zell hard across the face with his nightstick. Zell staggered slightly then fell to the floor, the seemingly less vicious of the two guards' gun aimed at him in a flash, as if the movement was something threatening. The second man had apparently decided he wasn't done yet, though, and delivered a series of kicks to Zell's ribs. Selphie and Rinoa were watching with something like mute shock, when Rinoa decided she'd seen enough.  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
"Oh, I almost forgot," the man remarked with a smirk, kneeling and raising Zell's head less-than-gently by the hair. "Hey man, is there a Rinoa with you?"  
  
"I'm," Rinoa paused, quavering. "I'm Rinoa.."  
  
"Oh, all right," the man dropped Zell's head carelessly back to the floor, then stood. "Then come over here."  
  
"What are you going to do to Rinoa, you bastard," Zell growled as he struggled to his hands, earning him another vicious kick from the guard, knocking him flat again.  
  
"Stop it already," Quistis shouted, reaching for her hip on reflex, mentally cursing when she remembered she wasn't armed.  
  
"Stop," Rinoa echoed, the fear and annoyance in her voice combining to make a dead serious tone. "I'll go."  
  
"Rinoa," Quistis said cautiously.  
  
"I'll be fine," she said, sounding less certain than she had a moment ago. She turned to the guards. "Let's go."  
  
The guards led Rinoa out, and Quistis didn't take long to hurry to Zell's side, checking to see how badly he was hurt. "Selphie, do you have any healing spells drawn?"  
  
"Yeah," Selphie nodded, studying Zell with a frown. "Anything broken?"  
  
"His ribs are probably fractured," Quistis said, turning him onto his back carefully. "But I think that's all; he's lucky."  
  
"I think it'd be better if we heal what we can before getting him up," Selphie remarked. "But. I think there's something going on here.. I tried reaching to Siren twice," she admitted. "Once when I thought they were done with Zell and when they took Rinoa a minute ago. Normally I wouldn't have had much trouble, but it was taking so long that I got distracted again both times.."  
  
"Why don't you try again," Quistis said, frowning. "I think we'll have some time to spare this time, and she could just be busy trying to sort everything out again after moving back."  
  
"I was going to," Selphie nodded. "Just give me a minute." Again she reached for her junction, searching for the proper spell once the GF was lending its aid. "Cure!"  
  
"It's working," Quistis observed, "but not too well. I don't suppose you know if Zell had anything stronger with him? I'd be surprised, but I was keeping mostly defensive spells on hand."  
  
"Think he had a couple Curas," Selphie frowned, crinkling her brow and trying to remember.  
  
"Then we'll have to try and wake him up to find out," Quistis decided after a moment of thought. "Anything that might help us do that? I'm not sure if just waiting is the best idea. It sounds like they have either Squall or Irvine in interrogation, and might have taken Rinoa for the same, which means they'll probably be coming for us soon enough."  
  
"All right," Selphie nodded. "There's other things we could use, but I kinda think a life spell's the easiest and least painful way right now. Just hope I can cast it okay."  
  
"Go for it," Quistis agreed. "The worst that happens is it doesn't work, and I don't think it'll make too big a difference if we can't get him back on his feet."  
  
"Hey, unlike some people I could name," Selphie shrugged a shoulder in Zell's direction. "I didn't sleep through classes." Siren seemed aware she was going to be needed frequently, and was almost waiting to be called on again. "Life!"  
  
Zell groaned again as, for the second time, he returned to consciousness inside the cell. "Where's Rinoa?"  
  
"Went with them," Selphie replied quietly. "I think she was more scared at what was happening to you than of them.. Not used to it, you know?"  
  
"Damn it," Zell swore quietly. "Any idea what they wanted with her? Or who they were torturing?"  
  
"Not really.... But, you know. they were being a bit more gentle with her, from what I saw." /Yeah,/ Selphie thought, internally rolling her eyes. /Some comfort, considering what they did to Zell and whatever it is they're doing to Squall or Irvine../ "No idea. All that happened after you went out was Rinoa agreeing to go. Quistis tried to stop her, I was seriously considering frying them."  
  
"Just as well you didn't," Zell said seriously. "They just have done the same thing to you, or whoever came in after them would have."  
  
"How are you feeling, Zell," Quistis asked, changing the subject before they could get to planning anything too risky.  
  
"Like I just got kicked until I blacked out," he deadpanned. "Times like this I wish I could use spells naturally."  
  
"Oh," Selphie gasped. "Right! Zell, you had some Cura spells, right?"  
  
"Yeah," he nodded. "Quetz put a bunch together during some of our down time to keep busy, not that it does me any good right now.. Hey, that's right, Rinoa managed to give Siren back to you before those goons came after her, didn't she?"  
  
"Yeah, she did," Selphie nodded. "But, um. magic doesn't work too well here. I'll give it my best shot, though."  
  
"I don't know if I can transfer them without a GF, but maybe you can Draw them from me?"  
  
"I'll try," Selphie nodded. "Just a sec, though," she warned, mentally apologizing to the apparently exhausted Siren. The GF complied, though she seemed reluctant. "Draw.. Cura!" There was a slight glimmer of energy as the spell was ripped from Zell's mind and released just as it became available.  
  
"Ow ow ow ow ow," he said, wincing as an involuntary flinch aggravated his ribs, but the pain passed slightly; not nearly enough for the level of spell used, though.  
  
"It's no use," Quistis sighed. "There seems to be an anti-magic field here."  
  
"Well, my ribs feel better, at least," Zell said. "Thanks, Selph."  
  
"No problem," Selphie shrugged, then frowned. "Hey.. Footsteps!" Quistis and Zell looked towards the bars to see what was coming, and Zell tried to get to his feet. Off the floor, at least, with limited success.  
  
Selphie watched closely, shoulders tensed, but when she saw what the cause of the sound was she relaxed. "Aw.. It's cute," she stated cheerfully, though she wisely didn't approach it. A moomba was padding carefully towards them, awkwardly balancing a tray on its paws, pausing for a moment to open the door awkwardly. Zell and Quistis were just relaxing when physics took over, and the tray fell to the floor with a clatter that muffled the dismayed squeek of the falling moomba.  
  
"What was that noise," an all too familiar voice shouted, making Selphie jump then settle into her previous, tensed posture. "You again?!?" The guard from earlier rushed in, and proceeded to mimic his earlier actions against Zell on the whimpering ball of fur.  
  
/"Damn him,"/ Zell thought to himself, his temper rising. /"That numbskull!"/  
  
"Yo," he shouted, getting to his feet, ignoring the twinge of pain that passed quickly as he moved up. "Who the hell do you think you are?"  
  
"Yeah, you big MEANIE," Selphie shouted, taking a step towards the guard as if there were something she could actually manage to pull off that would harm him. "Stop that!" The guard pulled out his nightstick, bringing it back and swinging it at Zell with the same vicious grin he'd had earlier - only to have it replaced with a dismayed look as Zell's arm not only took the blow meant for his head, but stopped it cold without a single reaction from the lean fighter.  
  
"Y-you'll regret those words," he stammered, turning around and running out of the cell, locking it tight before Zell could get his hands on him, and continuing out through the door.  
  
"He's so mean," Selphie murmured to herself, kneeling beside the Moomba. "You okay? Doesn't work so well, but... Cure!" The moomba got up, looking at Selphie with a distinctly grateful expression, as Zell finally winced, rubbing his arm gingerly where the nightstick had hit it.  
  
"He looks like he's going to be okay," Quistis said, half-surprised Zell hadn't followed his block with an immediate introduction of his fist. Maybe he was hurt worse than he was letting on.  
  
"You all right," Selphie rose an eyebrow, sparing him an admonishment both to save her own energy and to avoid hypocrisy.  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay," Zell nodded. "Still hurts, you know? Just a lot less than when it's your head that gets hit. Gloves usually take the brunt of it."  
  
Selphie, reminding herself to make a serious apology to Siren later, launched another spell in Zell's direction. "Cure!"  
  
"Thanks," Zell said as the rest of the soreness in his ribs started to fade, and his arm stopped aching. "You should probably give Siren a rest, though; if she has to get through some anti-magic field, that's got to be hard for her to keep doing."  
  
Selphie laughed slightly. "If she didn't like me, she'd have stopped a looong time ago. Just don't you dare get yourself hurt again."  
  
"Wasn't exactly planning on it the first few times," Zell chuckled ruefully, adjusting his sleeves slightly. "There, that should put the padding in the right spot for when that asshole gets back here."  
  
"He comes back again, *I* will fry him," Selphie declared, annoyed.  
  
"Anti-magic field, remember," Quistis cautioned her. "Not sure what that might do, especially if it's tuned to work better against combat spells than healing ones."  
  
"I know, I know," Selphie sighed. "But he's such a jerk!"  
  
"Bigger bully than Seifer," Zell grumbled. "Bigger coward, too. At least Seifer had the guts to take a second swing when you slowed him down."  
  
"Picking on people like that.. Figured you couldn't defend yourself so he went after you, then he goes after a Moomba.. I don't really know him, but I don't think Seifer'd still be in Garden if he was *that* abusive."  
  
"Just didn't bother throwing -"  
  
"That's enough for now, Zell," Quistis interrupted him, hoping to keep his focus on the here and now. "We've got other problems to deal with now."  
  
"Yes Ins - Quistis," Zell said quickly. "Wish we knew what was going on out there."  
  
"I'm worried about Rinoa and Squall," Selphie murmured. "Who knows where they've taken her.. And Squall wasn't in good shape at all."  
  
"No, he wasn't," Quistis agreed. "The fact that Irvine's not anywhere to be seen worries me too; he was on the front line with Rinoa and Squall."  
  
"Probably rolled over and told his Galbadian friends everything they wanted to know that he could," Zell grumbled. "You know, I'll bet this whole thing was a setup to drag Garden into this and give that Sorceress a nice scapegoat."  
  
"Zell," Quistis said sharply. "He might not have been working with us long, but he *did* try to do his part of the job, and then some. He might have some problems personally, but I don't think he would have betrayed us.. Seifer, on the other hand, seemed to be firmly in the Sorceress' pocket. They probably learned more from him than from anybody outside of Garden. Now just calm down and start trying to come up with some way to get us out of here." The blond fighter did just that, as much as he ever did, pacing the cell.  
  
/"What now?"/  
  
"What do we do," Selphie asked, a bit frantically. "Just stay here? We'll be tortured for sure!"  
  
"Well of course we can't just sit here," Quistis said calmly, hoping she could keep Selphie from panicking. "We have to think of a way to escape." She adjusted her glasses slightly, focused on a handful of plans she was coming up with, looking for one that didn't have too many flaws.  
  
"Anybody got an idea," Zell asked, noticing the change in Quistis' demeanor.  
  
"Well, we could skin this little guy and wear him as a disguise," Selphie trailed off thoughtfully.  
  
Any question as to whether or not the moomba could understand what they were saying was immediately answered as its eyes grew as wide as saucers and it scrambled back against the bars, looking around desperately as Quistis and Zell both looked at Selphie in shock.  
  
"I'm kidding," Selphie blurted. "I'm kidding!"  
  
/"Doesn't sound like you are,"/ Zell thought to himself, as the moomba slowly calmed down.  
  
"Well, we can't rely on magic here," Quistis said, changing the subject quickly, "so we have to go with weapons. We have to get them back somehow.."  
  
/"Weapons."/ Zell thought, as he remembered something. /"Sweet Hyne I am an *idiot!*"/ He bounced up from where he was sitting, practically back to his hyperactive self. "I'll go get the weapons back!"  
  
"Oh yeah," Selphie shouted brightly. "You worked here as Ward, so you know the place," then she frowned. "Sure you're up to it?"  
  
"Sure I am," Zell said confidently, bobbing back and forth as usual. "Just need to get out of this cell.."  
  
/"All Ward did was mop floors,"/ he thought, his subconscious quietly screaming at him to have some common sense. /"Forget it, I can do this."/  
  
"Just leave it to me! You two lie down there."  
  
"Zell," Quistis said cautiously..  
  
"I hope this works," Selphie muttered softly, laying down when she realized she wasn't being given much say in the matter.  
  
Zell waited for them to get in position, then hurried over to the door.  
  
"Guard, guard! We need some help! Open the door!"  
  
"What's the problem," the guard grunted, not so quick to be vicious any more.  
  
"The women are unconscious," Zell explained, moving away from the door. "I think a snake bit them!"  
  
"What," he asked, a little dubious as he opened the door.  
  
"Yeah, a snake," Zell said. "Sorta like this!" He raised his hand and brought it down on a pressure point on the guard's neck, watching with satisfaction as he crumpled limply to the ground. "Well, I'm off," he said cheerfully as Selphie and Quistis started to get back up, only to be stopped by a light tugging on his pant leg. He looked down, to see the moomba looking up at him hopefully.  
  
"Huh? You wanna go too? Ahh.... I guess.... Just don't get in the way!" WIth that, he and the moomba headed off, rushing towards the stairs.  
  
"Hope he doesn't wake up," Selphie remarked with a frown, looking at the guard..  
  
"He will eventually," Quistis said, standing up. "If I'm right, probably just in a couple of minutes. Anything down here we could tie him up with?"  
  
"Um.. Don't think so," Selphie replied, looking around carefully.  
  
"Is he wearing cuffs? Or I suppose we could just keep knocking him out with his own nightstick," Quistis pondered.  
  
"Don't think he's got cuffs on him," Selphie shook her head. "And the other guy had the gun...."  
  
/"Which is probably a very, very good thing, honestly,"/ Quistis thought to herself. "Well, we should get his keys at least," she said, pulling the key cards out.  
  
"Yeah," Selphie agreed.  
  
Quistis collected the last card, then smiled slightly.  
  
"Why don't we let him be the prisoner for a while?"  
  
"Heeey," Selphie chirped. "Good idea, Quisty!"  
  
"Then let's get out of here," Quistis said with a nod, walking out of the cell and waiting for Selphie to follow before closing it and locking the guard in.  
  
Selphie followed, and leaned against one of the bars. "Well, what now?"  
  
"I'd say we try to stay under cover until Zell shows up with our weapons, then we get everybody else and get out of here."  
  
Selphie nodded. "Hope he's quick.."  
  
"He will be, as quick as he can be," Quistis nodded. "Any idea what's wrong with him, though? He was acting strangely earlier."  
  
"Yeah, he was," Selphie nodded slowly. "He was definitely scared, and I don't mean in the kind of way Irvine'd tease him about."  
  
"Do you know anything about it, Selphie," Quistis asked quietly, getting very serious for a moment. "I know you're.closer to him than most of us are. If he's told you anything, it might be good to know about it."  
  
"Um," Selphie paused, shifting from foot to foot. "I've got some educated guesses, but.."  
  
"Nothing you're sure of?"  
  
"Nothing that I can really say," Selphie sighed slightly. "A lot of what I know's observation, and what I've been told. I don't think he'd appreciate it."  
  
"All right," Quistis said. "But if it starts to cause a problem, you might not have much of a choice in the matter," she cautioned.  
  
"Think I'm gonna have to talk to him," Selphie began. "Even if it's not causing problems right now, it's going to end up that way."  
  
"Good," Quistis nodded, wincing as she heard gunfire ring out on the next floor.  
  
"That. doesn't sound good," Selphie cringed slightly.  
  
"Zell's done this before," Quistis said, sounding more confident than she felt. "Maybe not exactly this, but he's SeeD. He knows what he's doing."  
  
"I know," Selphie nodded. "But I just hope whatever it is isn't bothering him enough to get in the way."  
  
"He was sounding more like himself when he left," Quistis said hopefully. "That's probably a good sign."  
  
"Yeah, probably," Selphie agreed with a nod. "Just. we're not leaving until we know something about Squall and Rinoa, right?"  
  
"And Irvine," Quistis nodded. "Even if it means we have to carry Squall out while he tells us to get moving."  
  
"And Irvine," Selphie nodded. "Just that Squall sorta came to mind first, obviously."  
  
"I understand, Selphie," Quistis said, chuckling weakly. "I just hope that, where ever they have him, he's been patched up some."  
  
"You'd hope so.. But judging from the way they treat their own staff.."  
  
"Fortunately, in a twisted way, Squall would probably get better treatment. He's an enemy officer, and it's hard to interrogate somebody who isn't breathing."  
  
Selphie nodded, but didn't really answer, shifting from side to side and touching the heels of her boots to her palms. Before either of them had a chance to break the uncomfortable silence, Zell and the moomba came running down the stairs.  
  
"Yo," Zell said cheerfully, "sorry to keep you waitin'!"  
  
"The weapons," Quistis asked eagerly.  
  
"Voila," Zell said, pulling out her whip and Selphie's nunchaku, handing them over and pulling his own gloves on. "What happened to sleeping beauty?"  
  
"Oh, him," Selphie jerked an elbow in the direction of the cell. "In there."  
  
"Good," Zell said, scowling at him. "I hope they don't have a spare key card. So, ready to go kick some ass?"  
  
"Whoo hoo," Selphie affirmed with a grin, bouncing on her heels and twirling her nunchaku as if to get used to it again. "All right!"  
  
"Hell yes," Quistis grinned, snapping her whip to straighten it out and curling it back up again quickly. Just then, the moomba looked off towards another room and started making some near-panicked grunts.  
  
"Is this the cell with the uncooperative prisoners?"  
  
"Somehow," Selphie muttered, glancing back at the guard in the cell. "I sorta think that's us."  
  
"Why don't we redefine uncooperative for them," Zell asked with a smirk.  
  
"Yes, this is it. Please give 'em something to really complain about."  
  
"Oh yeah," Selphie agreed, raising an eyebrow. "I'm with ya there."  
  
"Just don't go overboard," Quistis said quietly. "Save it for when we're trying to get people out."  
  
"Should we be picking on prisoners so soon after getting transferred here," they could hear footsteps now, and that this third man's voice was dubious.  
  
"Just be quiet, and let me handle this," the first voice snapped, and suddenly Selphie was thinking how familiar it sounded.  
  
"Hold on," Zell said out-loud. "Aren't those.."  
  
The three people rounded the corner, and Selphie's eyes widened.  
  
"T-These are the prisoners, Lieutenant Biggs, Private Wedge," the guard stuttered.  
  
Zell blinked, and finished his sentence. "Biggs? Wedge?" The two soldiers looked at Zell and Selphie, and a moment passed as things registered in all four minds, just before the four responded as one.  
  
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"  
  
"S-So we meet again! Now I'll teach you the lesson I should have taught you earlier," Biggs shouted. "I know it might seem cowardly to fight unarmed prisoners. But I hope you appreciate our position. Hey, it's a dog-eat-dog.."  
  
"Uh," Wedge hesitated, eyeing the three SeeDs with something like fear. "They're fully armed, sir."  
  
"W-What...!? H-Ho-How," Biggs stuttered, taking a step back.  
  
Selphie grinned internally. This was going to be *too* easy. "Ahh, Hell with it," Biggs declared. "Let's go, Wedge!" Quistis and Zell fell back into their combat stances as the two soldiers drew their weapons, and the guard ran.  
  
"I was demoted because of you," Biggs shouted, glaring fiercely at them. "I'm only a lieutenant now! I'll get my revenge!"  
  
"Gee, we're *so* sorry," Zell said, rolling his eyes slightly before dashing forward and planting his fist firmly in the red-uniformed soldier's torso.  
  
The lieutenant cringed more than slightly, but for the moment held his ground, countering with a spell. "Slow!" The spell's energy surrounded Zell, who moved slightly more slowly as he dodged back out of the way, trying to shake off the effects of the spell.  
  
"Oh, I don't think you're going to do that too often," Quistis growled, drawing back her whip and bringing it forward, the sharpened edges along the tip slashing across his face, throat, and uniform.  
  
Biggs yelped as if in reluctant agreement, sending a hail of bullets in the group's direction.  
  
Selphie reached for a spell of her own before recalling Quistis' earlier words. She didn't know what exactly the magic barrier did, but... In her typical fashion, she shrugged it off. Siren met her with no argument, not wanting to lay idle while her host fought. "Protect!" She cast it in an odd way, though, so that it slowed the approaching projectiles rather than fully protected any one of them. "Move!"  
  
The extra reaction time was enough for the three of them to move, though Zell's slowed reaction time made it a close thing with him. Wedge took advantage of his superior's action, dashing towards Zell and slashing quickly upwards before stumbling back as if afraid. For good reason, it seemed, as Zell's clumsy counterstrike barely missed him. Quistis, on the other hand, was already bringing her whip around for another blow to the more dangerous Lieutentant. Biggs weaved slightly on his feet, dizzied. Selphie knew a chance when she saw one, and it wasn't long before the spiked ball on the end of her nunchaku connected with his face, knocking him off his feet.  
  
Finally, Zell managed to get past the spell's effects enough to do something, charging towards the terrified Wedge in a nearly comical slow- motion effect. Not that Wedge would be laughing, of course, particularly not as he recovered from the spin kick that Zell planted against the side of his face. Wedge tumbled, tried to get back to his feet, then either thought better of it or found himself unable.  
  
"Booyah," Zell shouted exultantly. "Let's get the others and get out of here!"  
  
"Yeah," Selphie cheered brightly. "C'mon, you guys!"  
  
Biggs scowled sourly, though it went unnoticed to the retreating SeeD, and forced himself to the nearby control panel. "D-Don't think you can just walk out," he managed under his breath, pressing a small button. That task accomplished, he collapsed. "Ugh.."  
  
Meanwhile, on the next floor up, Zell was looking around for anything that might suggest where to head next. "Squall's got to be around here somewhere.. You have any ideas?"  
  
Before Zell or Quistis could say anything, another moomba rushed in, practically bouncing.  
  
"Srrrr.. Srrr.. Laguna!" The other one looked at it in amazement.  
  
"Laguna?!?"  
  
"Laguna," Zell echoed. "I don't know why, but I'm feeling lucky - let's follow them!" Then the alarm started. "What the?"  
  
"Warning," the intercom intoned. "Escapee alert. Monsters will be released on each floor. If escapees refuse to surrender, lethal force is authorized. The anti-magic field will be lifted."  
  
"Shit," Zell swore. "The security alarm!"  
  
"Go," Selphie declared, dashing off after the moombas. "And just hope we don't run into anything we can't handle!"  
  
The three of them made their way up the next five floors almost too easily. The monsters that had been released were fairly tough, but the three SeeD - especially now that Selphie's spells were working again - managed to make short work of them. They were greeted by a metal hall absolutely *congested* with moombas.  
  
"There's definitely something here," Quistis said, frowning slightly as the trio worked their way through the orange-and-red 'carpet' and to the open door. "Squall!" Fortunately, the moombas had already made a path through, which the trio quickly took advantage of, hurrying to the side of their chained commander.  
  
"Oh my gosh," Selphie muttered under her breath. "Squall!"  
  
"Have any curas left, Selph," Zell asked, working to undo the chains holding Squall's wrists to the wall.  
  
"Yeah," Selphie nodded, still watching in mild shock. A second later, she snapped out of it and took the cue. "Cura!"  
  
Squall shifted slightly and murmured something like an argument as Zell took his weight on his shoulders.  
  
"Huh," Selphie muttered, frowning. "Never thought I'd see *Squall* pull that," she surveyed their actual surroundings, and found herself quite unable to blame him. "Can't say I blame him a single bit, though. Unfortunately for him, this'll be a lot easier if he can get around on his own two feet.. Cure!"  
  
The load on Zell's shoulders lightened a bit as the now conscious SeeD made an instinctive attempt to hold his own weight. He opened his eyes, and for a brief moment there was a flash of something quite disconcerting in them. Fear. Squall calmed, though, when he recognized the people around him. "What.?"  
  
"Woah, take it easy," Zell said quietly, staying ready to provide help if he needed it. "You okay?"  
  
"It was Hell," Squall responded quietly, testing his legs.  
  
"Think you'll be able to use this," Zell asked, shifting to pull out Squall's gunblade.  
  
"Should be able to," Squall nodded, reaching out accept the weapon.  
  
"Don't be pushing yourself," Selphie instructed, eyebrows still crinkled in an uncertain frown.  
  
"She's right, Squall," Quistis said, glancing at the door to make sure things were still quiet, then looking back at the young SeeD. "We've got to get the hell out of here, and fast, but there's no use in pushing so hard you give out."  
  
"I'm fine," he replied in a practiced tone. "Just be better when we're out of here."  
  
"Then let's get out of here," Zell agreed. "Do you remember coming here as Laguna?"  
  
".No," Squall replied simply, distracted by something. He looked at the nearest moomba, who was staring back at him with acute attention. /You. Know Laguna.?/  
  
"So," Quistis said with a sigh. "None of us know the way out."  
  
"Either way," Zell shrugged, "we kept going up and up to get here; we should probably head back down."  
  
"It'll be a pain to go back down every floor," Quistis pointed out. "With the monsters released, we'll probably be getting into fights every step of the way.. Squall, how did they get you up here?"  
  
"That thing," Squall gestured towards the crane hanging from the ceiling.  
  
"Woah," Zell said, looking up at it in amazement as they moved out of the cell. "This thing looks like it's supposed to carry a whole room!"  
  
"Hey, so. Maybe it brought that thing up here," Selphie wondered aloud, skipping over to what appeared to be a fairly large shed.  
  
"Hey," Zell said, looking around. "I remember this now! We can move this cell with the panel inside and the control room! I remember Ward operating it before.. But we need to use both at the same time. Somebody needs to stay up here and operate the controls."  
  
"You know how, right," Selphie's inquiry was more meant to point this fact out.  
  
"You're right," Zell nodded after a moment. "You guys get in the cell, and I'll give you directions from the control room."  
  
"Remember what I said about not letting yourself get hurt," Selphie advised, grinning slightly, "because you never know when I might remember about poor Siren. Magic field or not, after all, she's had a long day."  
  
"Take care of yourself," Squall added a moment later, studying Zell with his usual somewhat-piercing gaze.  
  
"Will do," Zell agreed, starting for the stairs up again. "You guys get in, I'll be there in a couple seconds."  
  
"Just be sure you can get out yourself," Quistis said seriously, before moving to the door of the cell.  
  
"Seeya later," Selphie called, setting off after Quistis. Squall apparently felt no need for further conversation, and simply followed the two women into the portable cell.  
  
As the three got in and the door closed, Zell's voice came over the intercom.  
  
"Yo, can you guys hear me?"  
  
"Hiya, Zell," Selphie waved into the camera. "Loud and clear!" "So, what do we do," Squall asked, eyeing the controls as if they were a script written in some foreign language.  
  
"Uhm.. Press the big red button on the control panel, I should be able to take the rest from up here."  
  
"Okay," Squall nodded, locating what appeared to be the correct button and pressing it.  
  
"Okay.locks released," Zell mumbled, apparently not noticing the intercom was picking it up. "Now.. Okay, down.. Okay, guys," he said, speaking to them intentionally again. "Might want to sit down, not sure how steady this thing is."  
  
"All right," Selphie settled on the bed. Squall wordlessly walked to the corner and gripped the edge of the sink. The crane lurched suddenly, then started to descend slowly, but far faster than they would have made on foot.  
  
Selphie was beginning to shift impatiently when an impact made it clear they'd settled. "Okay, Zell, we're down!"  
  
"Great," he said, looking towards the door. "I'll get down there as fast as I can, see you soon!"  
  
"Seeya," Selphie replied, heading for the door. "C'mon, you guys!" Quistis got up, and hit the button to open the door. It refused to budge for a moment, and she frowned as she hit it again, longer this time. It finally opened after a third try, letting sand pour into the entrance to the room.  
  
"Sand," Squall muttered in mild disbelief.  
  
"Buried," Quistis asked in the same tone. "All right.we can't get out through here.. We'll have to go -" Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the roar of gunfire coming through the intercom.  
  
"What was that," Selphie wondered, eyes widening. A moment passed as the sobering answer occurred to all three, before she and Quistis voiced it as one.  
  
"Zell!"  
  
"Let's get back," Quistis said, hitting a button that looked like it was the recall as the door slid shut and the cell lurched back up.  
  
The trip passed in mainly silence, Squall leaning against a wall, Selphie fidgeting, and Quistis looking worried. They reached the top floor after a minute or two, Quistis pulling out her whip and opening the door as soon as the cell stopped.  
  
Selphie moved to leave and also seemed to be about to speak, when a flash of black dashed past her. "Squall?!"  
  
"Don't ask," he called from over his shoulder, and Selphie could practically feel the 'mind-your-own business look' that came with such a statement.  
  
Quistis looked at Selphie with a confused shrug, taking off after Squall with the other woman shortly behind her as they heard a strangled death cry up ahead.  
  
Selphie and Quistis caught up with Squall, only to find Zell clinging to his waist tightly. Selphie grinned when her ears picked up the vaguely tolerant protest. "Let go, Zell."  
  
"Uhm.yeah," Zell said sheepishly, just getting to his feet as they got into the room.  
  
"Well, good to see everybody's all right," Quistis said, carefully holding back a chuckle at the mental imagery.  
  
"Hey, Squall," Selphie grinned wolfishly at him. "Why did you go on your own? Is Zell that important to you?"  
  
"Uh, Selphie," Squall looked decidedly uncomfortable and found himself at a loss for words. Thankfully - or perhaps not so thankfully - he was saved the embarrassment when the roar of another volley of bullets cracked through the air.  
  
"Shit, there's no way out of here," Zell swore as he dropped to his knees, reaching up to pull Selphie down as Quistis and Squall did the same, the console the only thing between them and the guards. The standoff continued for what felt like ages, though none of them were sure why the guards didn't rush in to finish them off. A louder gunshot silenced the automatics, though, as two dull thuds signaled that it was safe to look back up.  
  
"Rinoa, Irvine," Quistis exclaimed as she carefully looked up to see the lean gunslinger holster his shotgun and step over the ruined remains of his victims, Rinoa shortly behind him.  
  
"Where did you go," Selphie called to Rinoa, grinning with relief.  
  
"You see =" Irvine started.  
  
"My father pulled some strings with the military," Rinoa replied, scowling slightly. "He told them to get me, and only me out."  
  
"Then," Irvine tried to say, only to be interrupted by Rinoa again.  
  
"So this guy here," Rinoa gestured to Irvine. "He came and got me. Just me! Knowing you were all captured!"  
  
"Look," Irvine tried again, "that's -"  
  
"Isn't that horrible," Rinoa interupted yet again, hands on her hips.  
  
"Look," Irvine sighed, rolling his eyes, "I *said* I was sorry! I'm here now, aren't I?"  
  
"After I scratched you to death," Rinoa replied simply, frowning.  
  
"Look, there are still guards here," Irvine said, "maybe we should get out of here?"  
  
"How? The basement door is buried in sand," Squall pointed out.  
  
"Of course it is," Irvine said. "So's most of the prison."  
  
"What," Squall asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow. "Buried?"  
  
"That's right," Irvine nodded. "This prison is -"  
  
"There they are," a group of guards shouted.  
  
"Shit," Irvine swore, pulling out his shotgun again, "Squall! You choose two of the others and head on up. I'll hold them here."  
  
"Up," Squall asked disbelievingly.  
  
"Yes, up," Irvine said, snapping in frustration as he moved near the door where he could pick off the guards as they approached. "Look, I don't have time to explain right now. The exit's up there, trust me!"  
  
"..Okay," Squall agreed finally.  
  
"I think I know the way," Rinoa added.  
  
"Fine," Squall nodded, brushing off something that told him she was just being clingy. Wasn't like she had a reason to be, or really like it mattered if she was. "Zell, you come too."  
  
"Sure thing, Squall," Zell nodded. "Let's get going!"  
  
"Right," Rinoa agreed, setting off after Squall when he departed without another word.  
  
"Okay," Irvine said after a moment, firing down the hall and pausing to reload. "Quistis, Selphie; you two ready? We'll be fighting on the run, but the others should have enough of a head start by now."  
  
"Mhm," Selphie nodded. "Ready when you two are!"  
  
"Hang on," Quistis said, glancing at the cell. "If we can hold them here long enough, I think I've got an idea."  
  
"Start talking," Irvine said, taking advantage of a lull in the fire to pull out a new clip. "Been saving this one; oh well, no time like the present."  
  
"Why don't we take the cell up once Squall and the others are in position?"  
  
"Hey, yeah," Selphie agreed after a moment. "Good idea!"  
  
"Problem," Irvine pointed out, shaking his head and waiting for the guards to get in range. "The control room upstairs needs to be operated, even if the cell's unlocked. He leaned around the corner and started firing, a barrage of explosions down the hall drowning out the screams of the victims.  
  
"I'll take care of that," Quistis insisted. "Let's just get in the cell while the guards are busy!"  
  
"Then let's go," Selphie persisted impatiently.  
  
"All right," Irvine relented, reloading and moving towards the cell. "Let's go!" The three of them piled into the cell while the guards tried to get through the rubble left by the explosive shells Irvine had used to collapse part of the tunnel.  
  
"Squall.. Squall, can you hear me," Quistis said into the intercom as the door sealed, praying they were there.  
  
"What if they've already moved on," Irvine asked with a frown.  
  
".Quistis? I can hear you," Squall spoke as though he thought he was going insane.  
  
Quistis let out a relieved sigh before she answered. "Squall, we've got the guards busy, and we're going to take the cell up. But we need you to operate the arm on the crane!"  
  
"How," Squall asked.  
  
"Leave that to me," they heard Zell say, just before the cell lurched into motion. "There!"  
  
"Great," Quistis grinned. "We'll be up in a minute!"  
  
"Sure takes awhile, doesn't it," Selphie remarked, scowling.  
  
"So what," Irvine shrugged, relaxing slightly. "It's not like we're in a hurry."  
  
"I don't like it here at all," Selphie said matter-of-factly. "Not one tiny bit."  
  
"It is a prison," he observed idly. "A Galbadian prison, more specifically. You're not supposed to like it here."  
  
"Relax, you too," Quistis sighed.  
  
"Sorry, Quistis," Selphie bowed her head slightly. "It's just been one very, very long day."  
  
"For all of us," Quists agreed, as Irvine nodded.  
  
"Look." the lean gunslinger started, then trailed off. "Forget it."  
  
"What," Selphie questioned, not wanting to let him drop it that easily.  
  
"I just wanted to say.. I would have gotten you guys out if I could, but I was lucky I could get Rinoa out. They released me to take her because I was from Galbadia Garden, but I couldn't do anything to get you guys out too."  
  
"Oh," Selphie processed this for a moment. "Well, Rin does get a bit worked up sometimes."  
  
"Yeah," Irvine agreed. "I just wanted you guys to know I had tried."  
  
"Don't worry about it, Irvine," Quistis said. "Your job was to get Rinoa out at that point; and report. We managed to take care of ourselves for most of it."  
  
"Yeah," Selphie agreed with a nod. A moment later, she added. "We're almost there."  
  
"Good," Irvine said. "The arms seem to be moving slower than they should.. Aw, crap."  
  
"What, what," Selphie asked worriedly.  
  
"I think we just found a reason to be in a hurry."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"This prison can submerge itself;" Irvine explained, "that's usually a pretty standard response to escapes, once they've got all their personnel in the facility. The power involved comes off the generators for the arms like this one, so they move slower. Which means if we're not up in time.."  
  
"Uh oh," Selphie trailed off, frowning. Fortunately, the cell seemed to come to a stop just as Quistis opened her mouth to say something.  
  
"Let's get out of here fast then," she said, though it seemed like something else had been on her mind at first.  
  
"Right," Selphie nodded frantically. "But where?"  
  
"This way," Irvine said, opening the door and starting down the hall as the prison seemed to lurch and sink. "The exit and the others should be up ahead!"  
  
Selphie took off after him, pausing long enough to be sure Quistis was following. The three of them found the others at the entrance, watching the rapidly approaching ground.  
  
"We'll have to jump," Irvine shouted over the noise of the submerge system. "The vehicle shed is just ahead, though!"  
  
"You're insane," Selphie squeaked back, barely audible. Zell just shook his head slightly, as the six waited for the ground to get close enough.  
  
"We'll have to get at least fifty feet away," Irvine continued, as the towers approached a safe jumping height, "or we'll probably get pulled under with the sand!"  
  
"Don't have a choice," Squall shouted, feeling questioning eyes on him. "Let's go!"  
  
"On three," Irvine shouted, as they got ready to jump. "One.two.three!" On cue, the six jumped, pushing out to get as far from the tower as they could in the fall. They tumbled to their feet quickly, running for the building Irvine had indicated before, the sand slipping beneath their steps as they struggled for footing.  
  
Thankfully, they arrived safely at the metal shelter not a moment too soon.  
  
"That was way too dangerous, wasn't it," Rinoa panted.  
  
"Yeah," Squall nodded slightly, a bit less winded than Rinoa.  
  
"Well," Irvine said optimistically, "we made it, right?"  
  
"Barely, but yeah," Selphie agreed with a sigh.  
  
"Let's just get going," Squall decided after a moment, glancing to the two vehicles in the shed.  
  
"I wanna ride the yellow one," Selphie shouted cheerfully, catching her second wind.  
  
"I'll go along with her," Quistis said, answering Squall's as-yet unspoken plea for somebody he knew could handle things to go along.  
  
"Okay," Rinoa decided. "Me too!"  
  
"Uhm." Irvine started, as Zell put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Let's go, Irvine," the lean fighter said in a voice that brooked no argument.  
  
"Right," Irvine nodded, jumping into the transport before the two vehicles sped off into the distance.. 


End file.
